A Conflict of Interests
by ExtraLexical
Summary: Ideologies, whether philosophical or political, have a tendency to open rifts in even the strongest of relationships. A story that follows the paths of two pairs of sisters: a pair of Miraluka girls on a voyage from Alpheridies to the Galactic Republic, and a pair of girls on Nar Shaddaa living with their mother, as fate deals them tough hands and causes rifts between them.
1. Chapter 1 - Forced Responsibilities

Alarms rang through the corridors of the doomed ship. Corridors had long since been sealed in order to keep a survivable atmosphere in the remaining areas of the ship. The crew was either dead or long departed via the ship's escape pods. The invaders, whoever they were, were still present, stalking the edges of the hallways, looting and killing any remaining crew members.

"Ssshhh," Na'iida put her finger to her lips as she attempted to quieten the terrified whimpering of her younger sister, Aaleit. Na'iida had brown, shoulder length hair that was tied into a bun on the back of her head, a contrast to her otherwise pale complexion. The area of her face where eyes should be was covered by a purple veil, as was that of her younger sister, both children were Miraluka. Her younger sister looked very similar, though she was smaller and barely out of her toddler years. The pair had tucked inside a ventilation shaft, hiding from the patrolling intruders.

"How disappointing," they heard the rough voice of a man from down the corridor.

"Yeah, the ship was barely guarded," came another rough voice, though this one was female; it was accompanied by an exchange of laughter.

"I meant the loot, you ass," came the male voice again, this time far closer. Na'iida brought Aaleit into a tight embrace, stroking the back of her head and holding it tightly against her chest. She knew that there was no way to get her younger sibling to not see the invaders, though she could do her best to give comfort. The pair walked past the ventilation shaft, armoured boots clanking against the metallic floor. Na'iida felt her sister tense up as the footsteps got closer and closer. _Don't make a sound, _she thought to herself as the footsteps reached their peak, the pair stepping past the exit to the ventilation shaft.

"Whatever," the female replied, her voice echoing down the ventilation shaft as she passed. "How long are we going to be here anyway? Feeling the need for some action on the Smuggler's Moon, you know?"

"Eh, they're having some trouble up near the bridge and the engine room. Boss wants to blow this ship apart, but we can't get to any of the bomb sites." The voices trailed off around a corner, Na'iida still tracking their movement through her people's inherent Force sight ability.

"Come on," she whispered to Aaleit, who still clutched at her arm tightly. Na'iida crept out of the vent, Aaleit following on, firmly attached to her older sister's arm. It was easy to avoid the patrolling groups when their sight was physical whilst Na'iida's was through the Force.

The pair got to the escape pods. There were still three left, though one had taken a hit and was no longer functional. Na'iida tucked inside of one of the functional pods and immediately went to strapping Aaleit into one of the seats. It was tough, as the seats were not designed natively for four year old children. She secured it as best as she could before strapping herself in opposite.

"Where's Mother and Father?" Aaleit asked as Na'iida finished strapping herself in. How was she supposed to answer that? She bit her lip, catching sight of another pair of the boarders approaching.

She hammered the release button.

The door sealed shut behind the two children. The clamps around the pod released. The pair hurtled towards the nearest planet, the pod's automatic protocols adjusting their trajectory as needed.

The pod impacted against the planet's surface.


	2. Chapter 2 - Scared Hunted Alone

Na'iida awoke to her younger sister shaking her violently. She stirred groggily, raising a hand to gently push at her sister to stop the shaking. Aaleit let go of Na'iida's shoulder, though she remained uncomfortably close.

"Hey, back up a little bit, Aly," Na'iida managed to mumble as she pushed at her sister's chest, though Aaleit did the opposite, attaching herself to Na'iida's chest in a tight hug. Aaleit did not seem to say anything, merely whimpering as she tried to bury her head in her sister's chest. Na'iida immediately realised that she was somewhere she had never been before, the landscape of the planet was alien to her. There was local wildlife, that much was apparent, but the nature of the wildlife remained to be seen.

"Come on, we can't just stay here," Na'iida whispered, stroking the back of her sister's hair. She knew how to operate one of these escape pods, her parents had taught her in case of emergencies as children were generally not included in the safety training rosters aboard the ship. Aaleit was making it difficult though, refusing to move. "Look, Aly, we need to go and find mother. She might be on the planet in a different escape pod."

Aaleit shook her head, her face still planted on Na'iida's chest. "No. We have to wait for mother here," she replied, barely audible due to her positioning.

"That won't work, Aly," Na'iida urged, still stroking the back of her younger sister's head, doing her best to comfort the younger child. She was scared, perhaps more than her younger sister as Aaleit probably did not grasp the magnitude of the situation. They were alone. They were on a foreign world. They were just a pair of children. Na'iida honestly had no idea what to do, but if she showed it, Aaleit would be terrified.

Na'iida flicked at her straps, the safety harness coming loose and slipping off her shoulders and chest, though Aaleit was still firmly attached. "Aly, I need to move," Na'iida uttered with a deep breath. She smiled at her younger sister and pushed at her again, though this time she moved to the side, still clinging to Na'iida's arm. It was progress, at least.

Na'iida felt the presence of foreign life forms; she was on a planet that she had never been on before, having never left Alpheridies before. She had no idea whether the wildlife was hostile or not, but the pair of them had no food or way of sustaining themselves. They had to find some form of civilisation or they'd starve in the pod.

"Sis?" Aaleit asked, squeezing Na'iida's arm tightly. It was only then that she realised that she had been sitting there for a few minutes without doing anything. She laughed a hollow laugh, getting to her feet and reaching for the door controls.

"We need to go and find mother," she replied with a smile, facing her younger sister as she fingered at the door controls. Fortunately, they still worked; they had been built to last the impact. "Just stay close to me. Don't separate for any reason, you understand?" she asked as the door opened in front of the pair of girls, a cold wave of air instantly whipping over the two of them. Aaleit responded with a nod and a tight squeeze of Na'iida's arm, though she instantly started shivering at the cold. They were not dressed perfectly for this weather, their pod having landed somewhere in a mountain range.

"We have to keep moving," she said with a sudden urgency. She knew that the pair of them could not stay in this temperature for too long, despite their clothing being sufficiently warm. The chill was still going to be unhealthy for them if they were exposed to it for a prolonged period of time.

The pair of children clambered out of the pod onto the snow covered mountains. Outside, in the fog, a creature prowled and stalked the young girls. The fog did not conceal it from Na'iida's view, but naivety kept it off her list of potential threats at that moment, or at least below the climate and landscape itself.


	3. Chapter 3 - Too Much Responsibility

"Hey, Sis! Over there!" Aaleit exclaimed as the pair of them stumbled up to a cliff face. They had been trekking across these mountains for hours, and both of them were tired and hungry. Aaleit could barely continue walking, though she seemed excited about something. Na'iida checked along the cliff face, over to where Aaleit was pointing, to find a cave entrance carved into the side of the mountain. She did not speak, merely rushing with Aaleit still attached to her arm over to the opening in the cliff face. It was dark, though the light levels were not a concern for either of them.

"At least this will shield us from the wind," Na'iida uttered quietly to Aaleit as she placed her down, resting her against the wall. Aaleit was reluctant to let go, but eventually curled up against the wall. The walk had sapped her strength completely, and the cold and hunger were not helping.

"I'm hungry," Aaleit moaned, hugging her knees, "when are we going to find mother or father?"

It was a question that Na'iida wanted to know the answer to as well. She folded her arms, partially due to the cold, partially due to frustration. All she knew is that they were not moving from their position in the cave. There was nothing to eat, nothing to drink and no civilisation anywhere nearby. "I don't know, Aly," Na'iida admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "Look, I'm sure they will come looking. You just wait," she continued, a weak, false smile on her lips as she crouched down and pulled Aaleit into a tight hug. The prospect of death looming over her was not a concern for her. She had been taught that death is a natural part of life and if the Force willed that it was her time to become one with it, then that is how it would be. She feared for her younger sister, Aaleit. Aaleit had not been educated as much, and Na'iida was afraid that her younger sibling still feared death.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the same presence that she had felt at the crash site. It was now accompanied by the sound of padded steps as it made its way inside the cave. It regarded the two children and snarled, baring teeth that looked larger than Aaleit's arms. Na'iida clutched her sister tighter as the creature came closer. If this was how it would end, then she would not try and run from it fruitlessly. What could she even do? She was only a child, and she had to take care of Aaleit as well. There was no way that she could get out.

"Hey, hey, hold it right there," came a foreign, male voice. A fourth presence appeared from nowhere, this one was almost radiant to Na'iida, though that could just be because of the desperate situation. The manka cat that had been stalking the pair of children turned to look at the new presence, snarling louder. "That's no way to treat a young lady and you should know better," the man continued, holding one hand out to the beast. The manka cat seemed to back down a little, prowling to the side of the man giving him another glance. "Out," the man urged once more, his hand still raised to the beast. The manka cat looked at him nonchalantly, before striding outside and away from the cave. Na'iida already noticed the change in the manka cat the moment the man spoke and clutched her younger sister protectively. There were things worse than death.

The man walked over to the pair of girls and crouched down to their level. He was balding, thin strands of light brown adorning the edges of his head. He wore a long, brown robe that draped onto the ground as he crouched to get a closer look a the pair with a pair of small, brown eyes. "Hello," he said gently, though Na'iida still held her sister who she now noticed had gone limp, breathing softly against Na'iida's chest. The man raised a curious eyebrow. "The Force can have effects on the minds of animals, such as the manka cat." He paused, looking directly at Na'iida, hands coming up to rub at his tanned chin. "You saw what I did, didn't you," he asked rhetorically, a smile on his face.

Na'iida nodded in response. She was shivering, though whether it was due to fear or the cold was unclear. The man stood up and offered his hand to her.

"Come on, I'll take you to the nearby settlement," he offered, though Na'iida did not move. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I can't leave a pair of children out here in the mountains by themselves. I am Jedi Master Vilis Eniell." He paused for a moment, "where are your parents?"

All Na'iida replied with was a shake of her head. She had come to accept what had happened. The man looked outside the cave momentarily. He was being sincere, or at least he was doing a very good job at hiding deception if there was any.

"I'll be honest with you, there are a lot more manka cats out there. There is no food or water for quite a way and you do not look like you're in the condition to trek across mountains. I will take you to the lands outside House Organa, but then you will have a choice."

Na'iida paused for a moment before opening her mouth. "What kind of choice?" she inquired, causing the man to smile widely once again.

"You can live as an orphan on this planet, which is called Alderaan, by the way. Or you can come with me to Coruscant. I believe both you and your sister have what it takes to become members of the Jedi Order." Na'iida had heard of the Jedi Order before, she had been taught about them briefly, but she honestly had little idea what they even stood for. She loosened her hold on Aaleit, propping her against the cave wall and reached up, taking the man's hand and standing up. She had a horrible feeling that her parents had died, she was just wondering how she would break it to Aaleit.

But what sort of future could they have as a pair of orphans? Na'iida did not fancy her chances in such a situation, especially if she had to look after her younger sister as well. It was not a question of willpower, but practicality. She went silent as she thought about it, standing eerily still as she did. She considered what she thought was best for her and what was best for Aaleit. Perhaps it would be for the best to throw themselves into something, take their minds off the loss of their parents.

"Come on," the Jedi cut in, moving past Na'iida to pick up Aaleit's unconscious form with far more ease than a man of his build perhaps should. "I have a speeder nearby. There is no rush to your decision, think on it," he looked down at her. She looked exhausted, but he could not carry the both of them and did not wish to leave one alone as the area had more than one manka cat, "or sleep on it, from the looks of things. Can you walk?"

Na'iida responded with a tired nod of her head. She felt as though she had a bit more left in her, and wished for the man to carry Aaleit, not her. If she collapsed, she had decided that she would apologise later.

The Jedi gave her a re-assuring smile, which was largely lost to her, though she knew that his intentions were good and smiled back. He turned and started to make his way out of the cave, Aaleit in his arms and Na'iida following close behind.


	4. Chapter 4 - Street Rats

Nar Shaddaa was not a forgiving place. The Smuggler's Moon, as it was called, was full of men and women of ill-repute; the galaxy's refuse. The Hutt Cartel ran the events and goings on of the moon, their enforcers keeping the peace through intimidation, though the "peace" only extended as far as would benefit the Hutts.

"Laylah, I can't help you right now," a woman with vibrant red hair spoke down to a child, no older than six years old with pale skin and equally vibrant red hair. The child was incredibly skinny, as was the woman talking to her from behind the cantina counter in the Slippery Slopes.

"But," Laylah managed to reply, before she was cut off again.

"No, Laylah, you know you can't disturb your mother while she's working."

"Hey, Red. We've got customers over here," came the voice of a male Twi'lek from the other side of the bar.

"I have to go, sweetie. Find your sister and head home to bed. I'll be home in the morning." Then the woman rushed off, leaving the bedraggled child lightly sobbing to herself. She started to walk out of the Slippery Slopes, passing a pair of drunkards in heavy armour as she left up the ramp to the Promenade. The Promenade was full of neon lighting and overt decoration. The Hutts were gaudy and enjoyed showing everyone just how important they were. Laylah knew where Irin would be, at least.

The walk across the Promenade was uneventful. The revelry of intoxicated individuals grated upon Laylah as she moved. These people were throwing away money on alcohol, gambling and other forms of debauchery and excess when there were children like Laylah and Irin who were borderline starving and living alone whilst their mother worked around the clock.

She walked past a man who had his arms draped around two women, a grin on his face that just radiated with confidence and self-importance. Laylah clenched her fists as she walked past, before picking up an empty bottle that had been discarded on the side of the street and throwing it at him. It fell short and smashed against the floor, causing the man to turn around, drawing his pistol and pointing it at Laylah. He sighed when he saw the starving child, though his frown remained.

"Get out of here, street rat!" he yelled, holstering his pistol and gesturing her away. He continued to walk with the two women like he owned the place as Laylah stormed off. Their situation was all her father's doing and she harboured a deep hatred for him for what he put her, her mother and her sister through. He always came home late and stinking with alcohol, yet her mother still cared for him. He took everything that they owned and when the Hutt Cartel came knocking to collect on his sizeable gambling debt, he was gone, leaving Laylah's mother to pick up the pieces. She had bartered with the Hutt Cartel to only enslave her to pay off the gambling debt, as opposed to enslaving Laylah and Irin as well, but it essentially costed the girls their mother as she had no time to be with the two girls.

As Laylah rounded the corner into an alleyway, she caught sight of Irin nursing her nose against a trash chute.

"Irin!" Laylah called out, running to her sister's side. "What happened?"

Irin grinned. "You should've seen what I did to the other guy," she muttered, though her nose was bleeding and her bottom lip had split.

"Who gave you a beating if you kicked the snot out of the other guy?" Laylah inquired, wrapping her arms around her sister. The two of them were almost identical; red hair, blue eyes, though Irin's were a darker shade, pale skin and small frames that showed signs of malnourishment. They both wore nothing but dirty rags, though Laylah's hair was tied back whilst Irin wore hers loose.

"Yeah, well he brought friends." Irin laughed, though she quickly grabbed at her abdomen as her laughter was replaced by a pained expression.

"Mother told us to go home. She said she'd be back in the morning."

"Yeah, so she can sleep for about two hour before going off to work again?"

Laylah frowned, but she knew that Irin was right. It was just something that they had grown to live with.

"Come on. We need to get you home anyway, before another fight breaks out."

The two made their way back to a small, dirty apartment block, taking an elevator up to their floor and entering their room. It was, after all, a single room with barely a kitchen unit and a single bed. The toilet was functional, but dirty, much like the rest of the room and the window had long since been broken by vandals. They could barely afford food, let alone window repairs, so the room was noisy, polluted by the sounds of speeders and the far off noises of the Promenade.

Laylah helped Irin onto the bed, easing her carefully back onto the torn mattress so that she was on the most comfortable part of it.

"You going to be okay?" Laylah asked as she clambered onto the other side of the bed, moving her body in such a way to avoid the jutting springs and other uncomfortable parts of the mattress.

"Yeah." Irin shifted her weight slightly.

"Good."

The two of them dropped off to sleep fairly easily, despite the noise that would keep most people awake at night. They had gotten used to it over the past few years.

Six hours later, they woke up. Their mother was nowhere to be seen.


	5. Chapter 5 - Debts Remain

Laylah looked at Irin who had also woken up, though she just seemed to lie there with her eyes open, blinking idly at the ceiling. It was hard to tell what time of day it really was on Nar Shaddaa with the sheer amount of neon lighting. Laylah had long since decided that the time on Nar Shaddaa was a constant. Neon-time, she called it.

"Irin?" Laylah asked.

"Yeah?"

"Mother's not here."

Irin tilted her head and sat up. The pain had largely subsided and she had stopped bleeding from her nose and lip.

"She's probably at the Slopes," Irin replied, slipping out of bed and walking over to the door. "let's go see her, hm?"

Laylah hopped out of bed and followed her sister out of the door. Nar Shaddaa was largely quiet at this time of day, leading Laylah to believe that it was, in fact, morning. The walk across the Promenade to the Slippery Slopes was uneventful, which is what one would expect from a short walk; this was on Nar Shaddaa, however, so the uneventful walk seemed strange.

The two girls made their way through the front door, the Gammorrean grunted at them as they passed, but otherwise barely acknowledged them as they went in. Inside was the familiar smell of alcohol and narcotics, though the scent of spacers had long since passed.

"Um... Excuse me," Laylah asked as the two walked up to the bar where a young Mirialan was cleaning the counter.

"Slopes is no place for a pair of ladies of your age," he responded with a frown, though Laylah and Irin did not seem phased.

"Have you seen our mother? She works here an-..."

"Oh, Red?" the Mirialan paused and looked behind him to see if anyone else was around, "I, uh... Well..."

"You will come with me if you want to find out." A large man in armour emerged from a room off from the bar. He was a Hutt Cartel enforcer, that much was obvious and it put the two girls on edge. However, worry for their mother prevailed.

"Where is she?" Irin asked, stepping forwards. The man simply grinned, walking over to the girls and shoving Irin towards the door.

"I don't like repeating myself. You can come willingly or unwillingly, I get paid either way."

Irin shot him a venomous look before walking towards the door where another two enforcers stood.

"Picking on children? Well aren't you just the image of politeness." Laylah spat the words with venom as she walked past the man, who merely shrugged, his bulky armour clanking as he followed the two of them. The two girls remained silent for the walk, though it was not far before they reached the chambers of Dirruda the Hutt, the same Hutt that their father owed money to, amongst others perhaps but Dirruda was the first to act on it.

"Ah, the two little ones," Dirruda spoke out in Huttese as they approached where he dwelt, a Twi'lek dancer manoeuvring about a pole to his right like her life depended on it. In all likelihood, it probably did. "Now, you see, your mother collapsed whilst working last night and I can't get what is owed to me from a corpse."

At that Irin burst from her position, rushing at the Hutt, but she was swiftly brought down by an electro-dart to her back, sending her to the ground in a spasm as the electricity coursed through her body. It was not a fatal amount, but it was enough to completely knock her out cold, a combination of youth and malnutrition meant that she was just not able to deal with the trauma.

"Now, now," Dirruda uttered as he shook his head, if it could be called a head, "defiance like that will serve you ill, girl." He turned his attention to Laylah. "You can fill her in later, but the debt must fall to next of kin. Since your father has disappeared from the Cartel, that leaves you two until my bounty hunters find him." He grabbed some sort of creature from a bowl next to him. It was small and still squirming as he placed his hand on it and shoved it into his wide mouth, chewing it briefly before swallowing.

"So, how will we do that? We're a couple of starving children, not exactly profitable." To Laylah, Huttese came just as easily as Basic. Living on Nar Shaddaa was a sure way to learn the two languages over the years.

The Hutt looked at the two scrawny figures before him and laughed. "That was because before you were just liabilities. Property gets maintained."

"Property?" Laylah asked as another figure, a Kaleesh male with a vibroblade and a mean expression, walked into the room.

"To settle your father's debt, the two of you will be sold to Jig Shelai here," Dirruda answered, gesturing at the Kaleesh.

"You said they were in selling condition, Dirruda," the Kaleesh argued, eyeing the two of them.

"They are capable. As long as you maintain them like the rest, they should be fine."

"That's not what we agreed, Hutt," the Kaleesh accused, though he looked around at the armed enforcers and sighed, reaching into a pouch on his belt.

"Hey, you can't sell us! We're not property!" Laylah argued, though she was quickly restrained by a pair of enforcers.

"Maybe your father shouldn't have built up such a debt in my casino," the Hutt responded as Laylah felt the cool, metallic sensation of a slave collar being clamped around her neck. She watched as they placed a similar collar on Irin.

"Whatever. A pleasure, as always Dirruda," the Kaleesh concluded, "if you happen upon any more questionable property, I would be happy to fence it for you." He bowed and led Laylah out of the door, a Houk coming to pick up Irin before following the two out.

"This isn't right," Laylah argued, though she did not resist. She knew what shock collars could do, and she did not feel like being in the same state as her twin.

"Eh, galaxy's full of worse. Now shut up and keep walking," the Kaleesh responded with a shrug.

Laylah sighed and kept walking. She did not like her new situation. Suddenly her old predicament in the run down apartment block seemed like heaven.


	6. Chapter 6 - A New Life

If life in a run down apartment block on Nar Shaddaa was bad, life in a slaver's cargo hold was worse. They often stopped on weird planets and were inspected by various people. The fear of losing her sister was palpable at every stop. The two of them stayed together, hands firmly held as they were passed over and inspected by all types. From clean, fair looking citizens of the galaxy to the dirtiest, most sinister looking individuals that made the population of Nar Shaddaa look decent.

It was only three stops before they got the attention that Laylah so desperately wanted. It came like a blessing.

"Oh, how adorable you two are!" a figure in black and red robes walked over to the pair of twins. She was human with a dark, olive skin and amber eyes, her brown hair tied into a bun that seemed to defy gravity. "I want them. These two. How much are you charging for them?"

The Kaleesh walked over and shrugged. "Was going to go for five thousand credits each."

The woman waved her hand. "I think that two thousand for both of them would be a fair deal, don't you?"

"I..." the Kaleesh started, "believe that would be fair, yes. Two thousand it is."

The woman smiled wide and offered her hand to the two of them, tossing a credit chit to the slightly dazed Kaleesh. "Come now, children. We need to put you to work," she said almost cheerfully, though Laylah could feel a sinister tone to the woman's voice. Still, it was better than remaining on board the slaver's ship and so she took the woman's hand, forming a link between the robed woman and Irin. "What are your names?"

"Laylah."

"Irin."

"Laylah and Irin," the woman mused as she walked, making her way out of the hangar in the Dromund Kaas spaceport, "how wonderful. I am Lord Eidella, but you will address me as 'my lord' or 'my lady', is that clear?"

"Yes, my lord," Irin replied.

"Splendid!" the woman immediately responded with a small amount of glee as she directed them to a speeder. The journey to the woman's rather sizeable estate was full of conversation as Lord Eidella tried to get to know the two girls, though they only maintained conversation only in fear of getting shocked. "You two will be in charge of cleaning. It's not hard, you make sure the mess is not on my property," Lord Eidella instructed as they entered the front door. "Oh, and you won't need these," she uttered as she effortlessly removed the shock collars from the two girls.

"Why not?" Laylah inquired, causing the woman to giggle. She outstretched her hand, pointing at Laylah.

"Because I can do it myself," she answered, sending a jolt of lightning into Laylah. She fell to the floor as the unnatural electricity coursed through her. Irin gritted her teeth and rushed at the woman, though she met the same fate as Laylah, stopped in her tracks by a quick jolt of lightning. "And it's so much more satisfying to do it myself... Anyway, chop chop! These floors won't clean themselves!"

At that, the woman walked off happily, leaving the two girls slightly dazed on the floor. Laylah got to her feet first and was met by the deep, red eyes of a girl who had appeared from nowhere. The girl had blue skin and black hair worn messily in a pony tail similar to Laylah's. She did not look much older than the twins, but the way she carried herself betrayed a far higher level of maturity.

"What... Who are you?" Laylah asked as Irin got to her feet, cradling her head.

"My name is Sul'ari'inrokini, but you can call me Larii," the girl replied with a friendly smile.

"Name's Laylah, and this is my twin sister, Irin."

"Twins, huh... So that was what Lord Eidella was ranting on about," Larii replied thoughtfully, walking over to the nearby window.

"What do you mean? She knew about us or something?" Irin asked, still with her hand on her forehead.

"Sort of. Lord Eidella wanted a pair of twins for her collection." The girl leaned against the edge of the window, folding her arms. "I guess she got what she wanted in the end. She always does." Larii's voice changed slightly, her tone harbouring a large amount of resentment.

"Why's that?" Laylah inquired curiously.

"Because the Sith always get what they want. She wanted a Chiss to be her personal singer, so she got one, despite the potential diplomatic repercussions!"

"You're a singer?" Irin cut in, her tone curious like Laylah's.

"No, but to Lord Eidella I am. She has no idea what she's going to bring to herself."

"Why do you say that?" Irin asked again, causing Larii to sigh.

"Look. The Chiss Ascendancy, my people, are official allies with the Sith Empire. The fact that a Sith is holding me as a slave would cause quite the political shockwave if it got out."

Laylah and Irin both looked at each other, both seeking answers from the other but neither having any. Larii shook her head.

"Fine. Just... Follow me and I'll show you where the cleaning supplies are. Lord Eidella never tells anyone anything, then delights in punishing them when they do something wrong." The Chiss started to walk off, motioning for the two to follow her. "Figured I'd at least give you two a fighting chance from day one."


End file.
